HOUSTON (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat Houston 6-3 Saturday night to drop the Astros out of the AL West lead.
Houston (77-78) fell one game behind Texas (78-77) and trails the Chicago White Sox (79-76) by two games for the last AL wild card. The Astros had held at least a share of the division lead each day since Aug. 25.
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Houston Astros' Jose Altuve singles on a bunt during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves' Mike Yastrzemski celebrates after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, left, right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., center, and left fielder Mike Yastrzemski celebrate after winning a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. celebrates as he runs the bases after hitting a grand slam during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. hits a grand slam during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta assured its eighth playoff berth in nine seasons on Friday and is in position to clinch its first NL East title since 2023 on Sunday.
Trailing 2-1, Atlanta loaded the bases against AJ Blubaugh (5-3) and Acuña homered off Bryan Abreu for his second grand slam this season and the fifth of his big league career.
Acuña singled and walked twice in his first three plate appearances. He has homered in three of his last four games.
Mike Yastrzemski added a solo homer in the eighth inning.
Grant Holmes (10-5) allowed two runs and eight hits over six innings.
Yainer Diaz hit an RBI double in the eighth off Dylan Lee, who struck out pinch-hitter Nelson Velázquez to end the inning.
Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 34th save in 37 chances.
Jose Altuve had three hits for Houston, while Isaac Paredes was 2 for 3 with a home run, walk and two RBIs.
Christian Walker had two hits after entering the game hitless in his previous 23 at-bats.
Hayden Wesneski allowed one run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (6-3, 3.43 ERA) and Braves LHP Martín Pérez (9-9, 3.07 ERA) start Sunday.
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Houston Astros' Jose Altuve singles on a bunt during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves' Mike Yastrzemski celebrates after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, left, right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., center, and left fielder Mike Yastrzemski celebrate after winning a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. celebrates as he runs the bases after hitting a grand slam during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. hits a grand slam during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Joey Logano won the Cup Series race Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, while the driver he passed for the win stole the show with old-school NASCAR feuding and fisticuffs.
Carson Hocevar, a brash 23-year-old who has earned the ire of veteranswith his aggressive driving, traded punches in the pits with Ryan Blaney after they were involved in an incident while racing for second with 41 laps left.
Hocevar stopped his car after finishing third and was greeted by a shove from Blaney.
The 6-foot-4 Hocevar, who stands several inches taller than Blaney, responded with two overhand rights. The first knocked off Blaney’s hat, and the second connected with Blaney’s left cheek.
Blaney fell to the pavement and then scrambled to his feet and out of a crew member’s hold while Hocevar raised his arms and pointed at him. Blaney charged and threw a wild left that knocked off Hocevar’s hat. They then were separated by team members as Blaney continued to yell at Hocevar.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of talking,” Hocevar said. “He just kind of said one thing and then went after me, and I wasn’t going to take it. I got ran into a lot for the win. That was for second, and he wants to come fight. They got an old-school Bristol show here.”
The contact between the drivers started shortly after Blaney took second with an outside pass of Hocevar, who immediately slid his No. 77 Chevrolet down the track. Blaney moved low to block, and Hocevar stayed in the accelerator to knock the No. 12 Ford into a spin that ended in the inside wall.
“I don’t know what I did wrong there," Hocevar said. "I crossed him over and looked like he spun himself, and then he wants to instigate a fight. I was going to finish that, and it seemed like the crowd was pretty pumped up, so I was going to play the audience for a second.”
Blaney, who led a race-high 202 laps despite starting 29th, was already frustrated after falling into heavy traffic because of a penalty for a pit lane violation with just over 100 laps remaining. His rally was cut short by the crash that dropped him to sixth in the Chase standings with his second consecutive finish outside the top 30.
In an interview during the race, Blaney said, “I tried to protect the bottom, he crossed and never lifted, and I got crashed.”
When asked which driver was at fault, Blaney said, “I don’t (expletive) know. Each person is going to say they did nothing wrong.”
Kyle Larson finished second to move into the Chase lead by a point over Denny Hamlin. Christopher Bell was fourth, followed by Ty Gibbs, who led 120 laps before finishing fifth.
Gibbs and Hocevar exchanged the lead four times in the final 100 laps. Their battle for first after a restart with nine laps remaining opened the door for Logano, who zipped past Hocevar and led the final seven laps.
With his 40th career victory and third this season, Logano became the winningest NASCAR driver for Team Penske and moved into third place in the Chase points standings.
But he realized all of those accomplishments would be eclipsed by videos of the Blaney-Hocevar fight that he still had yet to see.
“I’m sure I’ll see it all week long,” Logano said, pausing to add with a laugh. “They’ll probably forget who won the race.”
Gibbs was driving a No. 54 Toyota that sported a paint scheme honoring the late Kyle Busch, who had a record 23 wins in NASCAR national series at Bristol. It was among multiple tributes to the Richard Childress Racing driver who died in May.
Fans waved yellow towels on the 18th lap in honor of Busch, who won two Cup Series championships in the No. 18 Toyota. His widow, Samantha, addressed the crowd before the race.
“Bristol was always so special to Kyle,” Samantha Busch said. “He loved racing under the lights, the energy of this place, and most of all, the fans. For 20 years, this sport was our life. It’s where we raised our babies and made some of our very best memories. I never imagined we’d be standing here without him. But looking out at all of you reminds me that we aren’t walking this alone.”
In its federal lawsuit that accuses Spire Motorsports of cheating by using stolen intellectual property, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a motion Thursday claiming that Spire and chief motorsports officer Chris Gabehart violated a temporary restraining order and should be held in contempt. A federal judge ruled in March that Gabehart can work for Spire but not in the competition director role he was in while with Joe Gibbs Racing last season.
Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson responded to the motion in a statement Friday night. “JGR does not get to control what other race teams do through court cases,” Dickerson said. “JGR does not own tire pressures, JGR does not own the people who work in this industry, and JGR does not own Spire. Spire looks forward to responding to JGR’s motion in court. To be clear, months of discovery have shown that Spire Motorsports has done nothing wrong.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will begin a stretch of three consecutive races on 1.5-mile ovals with Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 27. Tyler Reddick won the April 19 race at the track in Kansas City, Kansas.
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Joey Logano (22) celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
A fan holds up a yellow towel on the 18th lap to honor the late Kyle Busch during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
Joey Logano (22) leads Austin Cindric (2) and Alex Bowman during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
Ty Gibbs (54), in the throwback M&M's car honoring the late Kyle Busch, leads Ryan Preece and Connor Zilisch during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
